Chicago Blackhawks star rookie Connor Bedard left after a hard hit in the first period and the New Jersey Devils rallied for a 4-2 victory on Friday.

Bedard, the rookie leader with 15 goals and 33 points, was levelled by Devils defenseman Brendan Smith as he carried the puck into the offensive zone. Bedard then skated to the bench holding his face.

Chicago coach Luke Richardson had no update on Bedard after the team’s 14th straight road loss.

Simon Nemec and Alexander Holtz each had a goal and an assist and Michael McLeod snapped a tie in the third period as the Devils won their fifth in six games.

Jason Dickinson and Boris Katchouk had goals for the Blackhawks, who have been outscored 19-4 during a four-game losing streak.

 

Another night, another comeback dub!

Game Story: https://t.co/GxOyyUDi6p pic.twitter.com/g3bnAY0kYs

— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) January 6, 2024

Jets win fifth straight, extend point streak

Laurent Brossoit made 37 saves and Nate Schmidt and Cole Perfetti scored third-period goals as the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Anaheim Ducks 3-1 to run their point streak to 11 games.

Nikolaj Ehlers had the other goal to help the Jets win their season high-tying fifth straight and improve to 9-1-1 since a 2-1 loss at San Jose on Dec. 12.

Winnipeg moved atop the league standings with 54 points, one ahead of the Rangers and Avalanche.

Anaheim’s lone goal came from Mason McTavish in its fourth consecutive loss (0-3-1).

 

The @NHLJets are taking off!

They extend their point streak to 11 games and now sit atop the NHL standings! pic.twitter.com/kOvK6Av5w4

— NHL (@NHL) January 6, 2024

Streaking Hurricanes defeat Capitals

Brent Burns scored two of Carolina’s six unanswered goals and red-hot Andre Svechnikov had a goal and two assists in the Hurricanes’ fifth straight win, 6-2 over the Washington Capitals.

Seth Jarvis and Dmitry Orlov also scored, Vasily Ponomarev tallied in his NHL debut and Sebastian Aho had three assists for Carolina, which is 8-1-3 in its last 12 games.

Svechnikov has six straight multipoint games with seven goals and seven assists during that span.

Nic Dowd and Dylan Strome had goals as the Capitals dropped to 1-4-2 in their last seven games.

FIVE IN A ROWWWWW pic.twitter.com/JhY8dkONyV

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) January 6, 2024